


Wild Family

by Arytra



Category: Power Rangers Turbo, Power Rangers Wild Force
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-26
Updated: 2013-10-26
Packaged: 2017-12-30 12:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1018619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A game of pool leads to more than Justin could have imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wild Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tsukino_Akume](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsukino_Akume/gifts).



> For Akume for Power Ranger's Day. I hope you like what I did with Justin and teammates.

Justin wasn’t sure what happened but he knew it started with Merrick. He’d been hanging around the pool hall when the Wolf Ranger entered and, soon after, the two were playing pool. Or rather, Justin was losing horribly at pool. Fortunately, Merrick wasn’t one to gloat nor one to talk much unlike most of the people he ran into. So when Justin came the following few days, it was just nice and quiet. The fourth day, however, Merrick brought Cole with him which was when Justin’s life completely changed.

He’d figured out later that Merrick had been a little concerned over his new friend and had asked his companion to check Justin out. Cole had taken one look at Justin and the next thing Justin knew, he was sitting in a large house owned by Danny and Max playing card games on pizza night. He knew there had to be more detail than that, but he just remembered pool, Cole, and pizza. One pizza night became two pizza nights which became get-togethers and picnics. He found himself in the garden with Danny as the older man patiently showed him how to care for it even though he had a black thumb. He was listening to Max talk his ear off about everything as they bowled. He was helping Alyssa’s kids with science fair projects that he still wasn’t sure he volunteered for and went on walks with Cole where the former Red’s enthusiasm couldn’t help but make him smile. He still played pool with Merrick.

Alyssa would often head into mother tiger mode and make up extra food for Justin to take home or ask what he was up to or push him to get an apartment in a safer neighborhood. Considering his bad luck with parental figures, he’d tried to insist to Cole that he didn’t need another parent.

“That doesn’t matter,” Cole said. “She needs to make sure her family is safe.”

“I’m not her family,” Justin muttered. “I don’t need a family.”

“Too late!” Cole’s voice was way too cheery. “You already have one.”

“You guys are already a team,” Justin tried and Cole sighed. He looked at the ground.

“When Shayla left, we had to hunt down Merrick because he didn’t know he was one of us,” Cole explained. Justin glanced over and felt Cole’s hand on his shoulder. “When he saw you in that pool hall, he said he understood what you were feeling and that no one should feel that way.”

Justin looked at him suspiciously. “He said all that?”

“Okay, well it might have been more like ‘No one should be alone’ but that’s what he meant. You’re the reason he came home. You helped him understand. Your hearts are connected!” Cole explained. “Now our hearts are connected. Just like you are with Max, Danny, and Alyssa. You will be with Taylor. You’re one of us.”

Justin wanted to protest, but Cole was already walking off as if anything that Justin protested wouldn’t matter. It took Justin a minute to realize that in Cole’s mind, it didn’t. Instead, he just sat there and thought for a while about everything.

“They’re overwhelming, Kid.” He jerked out of his thoughts and looked face to face with Taylor who had quietly sat down next to him at some point. He hadn’t even known she was on her way home let alone that she was bad already. “You’re pretty sure you were staying emotional detatched because they’re all idiots and the next thing you know, you’re going on picnics and having movie nights.”

He didn’t know what to say about that. He opened his mouth to give a counter, but nothing really came. Taylor seemed to understand as she leaned back. “You get used to it.”

“That’s your advice? You get used to it? What if I decide to leave?” Justin challenged. Taylor gave him a stern look.

“Then I’ll be the one to drag you back,” she answered. She paused before continuing. “And I won’t be gentle about it.”

“And what happens when you get bored and leave?”

“Justin, let me ask you something. Do you see our mentor here?” She asked. He shook his head. “That’s because she went back to sleep, took the island we’d called home, took the morphers and our connection with our zords. She left. Do you understand?”

For the first time, Justin paused to think about it. The cow figurines that Danny was look at wistfully or the shark emblems all over Max’s bowling stuff. Tigers littered Alyssa’s classroom. The wolf that Merrick stayed with. Even Cole would look at the sky in longing at times. For all that they loved each other and hung onto the others, this was a group that understood what it felt like to be abandoned and torn from loved ones. “Yeah. I get it.”

“I fly with Yellow Eagle,” she admitted and he looked at her. “But I still miss my bears. And I miss Shayla. I was the first she found.”

There was more acceptance than pain in Taylor’s voice and Justin wondered how she’d managed it. “I’m not a Wild Force Ranger.”

“Do you care about the planet?”

“Yes.”

“Do you fight evil?”

“Yes.”

“Do you like animals?”

“Yeah.”

“Close enough. Now get inside. The others will be worried,” she instructed, getting up herself. Justin came back inside and realized that they had completely incorporated him into their lives. They just expected him to be there. Taylor caught his eyes and nodded as she took her place at the head of the table to Justin’s surprise. He glanced over to see Cole perfectly happy to sit on her right. When he found more food on his plate that day, he glanced over to see Taylor giving him a stern look before going back to her conversation with Alyssa. Cole grinned at him. Max started up a conversation with him and Danny, pleased when neither one really interrupted.

“It’s easier to just accept it,” Merrick said from his other side as the Wolf Ranger quiet ate. Justin had to agree.


End file.
